Almost three years after the sinking of the luxury cruise liner Costa
Concordia off the shores of Italy, the body of the last person to have died in
the tragedy has been recovered. The remains of Russel Rebello, an Indian
national who worked as a waiter aboard the ill-fated ship, was recovered and
positively identified by his family members.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the body of Russel was found as
the work of dismantling the Costa Concordia was underway in Genoa. Russel’s
remains were found by the employees of Ship Recycling, the firm that has been
entrusted the job of scrapping the once opulent Costa Concordia. Italian
language newspaper the La Stampa confirmed on its website about the finding of
the body of Russel.
“The remains of the Indian waiter were found inside a cabin on deck eight
of the Costa Concordia,” it said.
The report added that the remains of the Indian waiter were discovered
inside a cabin, underneath furniture that had been overturned. The cabin was
located on the badly damaged side of the Costa Concordia that was crushed
against the sea floor. In spite of being underwater for so long, the scraps of
Russel Rebello’s waiter uniform were found intact underneath the furniture. It
was using the remains of the uniform that Russel was identified.
According to Mercury News, Russel’s brother Kevin Rebello has in a Facebook
message confirmed that Russel’s body has been found and identified. Kevin also
thanked his friends and well-wishers in the message that said he was sure that
his brother would be found one day. Kevin added that a DNA test to confirm his
Russel’s identity would be done after which the family would put his brother to
rest “with honor.”
The Costa Concordia disaster in 2012 claimed the lives of over 32 people.
One person was killed during the ship’s salvage operation later. After it was
evaluated that the ship was a total loss, the vessel which remained stuck on a
ledge near the shallow ocean floor was needed to be re-floated. The goal was to
send the Costa Concordia to Genoa in order to scrap her. On July 14, 2014, the
ship was finally re-floated and the Costa Concordia made her final trip to
Genoa.
All but one person aboard the Costa Concordia was unaccounted for, until
now. With the remains of the last person too found, the people affected by the
disaster could find some sense of closure.
Source: inquisitr. 3 November 2014
No comments:
Post a Comment